During the last years, and especially after several mass strandings linked to high level military sonar use, there has been a growing attention of the cetological community and significant research effort as well on Ziphius cavirostris and other ziphiid species. We hope that the following paper that has been published recently may be of interest to the members of this list. Woodside, J.M., David, L., Frantzis, A., and Hooker, S.K., 2006, Gouge marks on deep-sea mud volcanoes in the eastern Mediterranean: Caused by Cuvier’s beaked whales? Deep Sea Research I, 53:1762-1771. Abstract Enigmatic seafloor gouge marks at depths of 1700-2100 m have been observed from submersible during geological survey work studying mud volcanoes in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The marks consist of a central groove (about 10 cm deep and 12 m long), superimposed on a broader bowl-shaped depression (12 m long by about 50 cm wide) with raised rims (up to 10 cm high) to either side of the central groove. We discuss the potential biological causes of these marks, and conclude that they are probably created by Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) during foraging dives to these depths. The mud volcanoes have a comparatively rich and diverse benthic ecology associated with methane-rich fluid seeps and thus could be the base of food chains that reach top predators like the deep-diving whales. The characteristic high acoustic backscatter of the mud volcanoes would facilitate their detection by the echolocation system of these whales. You can find the full text of the paper at the Deep Sea Research I (Science Direct) website: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09670637 (click on November (volume 53 issue 11) and go to article number 4) or at the following link: http://www.pelagosinstitute.gr/en/pelagos/index3.html or please contact one of the authors: J.M. Woodside (jwoodside@alum.mit.edu) L. David (lea.david2@wanadoo.fr) A. Frantzis (afrantzis@otenet.gr) S.K. Hooker (s.hooker@st-andrews.ac.uk) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J.M. Woodside Centre for Marine Earth Sciences Faculty of Earth And Life Sciences Vrije Universiteit De Boelelaan 1085 1081 HV Amsterdam the Netherlands Telephone: +31 (0)20 598 7370 TeleFAX: +31 (0)20 598 9941 email: jwoodside@alum.mit.edu website: http://www.geo.vu.nl/users/sedimar/people_info/woodside.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~